So We Look To The Future
by Guardian54
Summary: Preview of some of the unwritten bits of my fanfics! Do not add to alert, however, do please review with your opinions. I figure previews count as Suspense, right? I took Nenfaer's advice, so these are all either locked-in or vague enough for me to not run afoul of them when actually writing. THIS IS THE TIME, THIS IS THE PLACE, SO WE LOOK TO THE FUTURE! (Disturbed/Genesis quote)
1. April 1 2013

A/N: I got more votes for putting up a bunch of preview snippets than against it. Each section is a separate look into the parts yet unwritten as of April 1, 2013. However, there is unlikely to be another chap put up here.

**Universe 1 = SupCom/ME/Halo/Starcraft/Babylon 5 universe.**

**Universe 2 = SI Archives universe, includes Harmony Shepard series**

**Disclaimer: all these snapshots can be subject to change when they are actually written. **Nenfaer made a very good point when he said I'm no good with following previews when actually writing, hence detail level is as minimal as possible while still getting the point across. That caused the deletion of 2/3 of the Universe 1 snapshots and 1/4 of the Universe 2 pieces.

* * *

TRAILER SET 1: Unwritten as of April 1, 2013

Exhibit A: Identity Crisis

_Citadel, 2183, Universe 2_

Tali had no idea why she was subconsciously putting off greeting the Quarian they'd just saved faceplate-to-faceplate. She was methodically making sure the thugs were dead via stomping on their heads with her cybernetic legs, squishing the skulls into blood-coloured splatters on the ground. She was fully aware that the Quarian girl's nervousness had been replaced by disgust, but the body language, so disturbingly like her own, was another reason she didn't want to greet the alien girl yet. Something felt off, severely off, about her. Finally, when she could excuse it no longer to herself, Tali sighed behind the gleaming white glacis plate of her powered armour and turned her head up to meet the kid's silver-eyed purple-visor gaze with the steady, pulsing red of the cross put on the front of her glacis, over the most reinforced parts.

The reason why Tali had subconsciously been putting it off hit her like being run over by a MARV when she looked at the girl's face and her armour's cameras filtered out the polarization of the helmet. In an instant the girl's right arm was pinned in place—but not impaled— against the alley wall by the forward lensing prongs of the particle beam cannon on Tali's left gauntlet, her mechanical hand forcing the shotgun, once held loosely at the girl's side, away from herself and her compatriots. The Quarian's left arm was prevented from doing anything by the large, ominously glowing barrel of the EMP cannon pushing at the girl's chin—well, the translator/food induction port thing, but whatever—as Tali growled into what she saw as her own face plastered onto an alien body "_WHO. ARE. YOU?_"

* * *

Exhibit B: I Gave You Your Name

_Jane Shepard's office SI Toronto HQ, 2019, Universe 2_

"I gave you your name, and I know you died  
I was the one from where you came, and I know you died

Your lifestyle, personal vendettas, it matters not to me  
Abstinence or promiscuity, or how it came to be"

_That's right,_ Jane thought in the middle of the stanza, _proper mothers didn't try to control everything in their kids' lives. They only made sure that their children are happy and as safe as possible, although in Harmony's former line of work that wasn't really possible… I failed epically at not bascally dictating everything in her life… But at least I didn't try to micromanage._

"That politicians' failures, or some power-mad religion  
Brought you too soon to your death, in the name of any region

You saw, you felt, you knew full well, as friend and foe were taken  
By fanaticism, that your life too, was forfeit and forsaken  
Yet on you went and fought and died, in your close and private hell  
For Life or Love or Liberty and memories never to tell…

It was for humanity, through shot and spell, the madness you endured  
Side by side, through wound and pain, and comradeship assured  
No family ties, nor bloodline link, could match that bond of friend  
Who shared the horror and kept on going, at last until the end

I cannot know, I was not there, it's beyond my comprehension  
To know the toll that butchery brings, of resolute deconstruction  
To carry on, day by day, for the species you loved and hoped for  
To wish for peace and a happy life, away from bloody consumption

For you my daughter, no long life ahead, free of struggle and pain and the gun  
And we must remember the price that we all paid, each and every one  
Regardless of views, opinions aside, no matter how each of us sees it  
_They_ started this and I cannot forget, even though I did not live it

I gave you your name, and I know you died  
I was the one from where you came, and I know…" Jane took a deep, shuddering breath halfway through the line "you died."

"Kenny Martin did well when he wrote the original." The man standing by in silence finally spoke up after a long time of silence.

"And you did well when modifying the lines for me. Thank you, Agent Guardian." Jane Shepard said softly. The man nodded at the dismissal and departed quietly, leaving a red-headed ticking time bomb of HATE simmering away inside the office.

* * *

A/N: I have two choices of what to do for the Draenei: I would prefer not to bother putting them in once the Coalition or at least a few people revisit Azeroth, but if too many people protest they can be what happens when Forerunner DNA experimentation with Protoss DNA went too far. It explains the short nerve cords and the legs very well… BTW the above is idle speculation relating to the fact that a Azeroth snippet used to be here.

The following references the title of a Mass Effect fanfic I saw (but did not read) on FFN.

* * *

Exhibit C: Of Sheep and Battle Chicken

_Mind-projection, somewhere in the Koprulu Sector, Sometime after 3868 Coalition Date, Universe 1_

"Kerrigan… I have been to the beginning…" Zeratul's mental voice spoke. "Behold… what the Forerunners salvaged from Zerus, birthplace of the Zerg." It zoomed in on a clearly human city "From here the Zerg were taken, long ago, and from here, the Dark Ones altered them." It zoomed in through the shield dome covering the middle of one of these open-air facilities scattered through the city "What was salvaged from this place to be merged with Earth animals can be called the Primal Zerg." A pink-skinned sheep-like creature with glaringly white wool stood on all fours across the scorched arena floor from a orange and cream coloured chicken-like creature that had feathered, clawed arms instead of wings. The sheep seemed to be glowing a bit "They fight." It fired a brilliant yellow-white electric bolt toward the target that had just disappeared in a plume of dust and flying dirt, disappearing into a hole in the ground in the under a second the sheep had to narrow its eyes to avoid the glare of its own charging strike. After a few seconds of the sheep running around the field in furious evasives, energy conducted through the ground itself seemed to slam a bolt of energy into the underside of the sheep and it went flying to land on its back with its eyes shut and curled into a ball that didn't unroll itself. "They learn." There seemed to be a frown of thought on the chicken's face after it clamoured out of the hole it had dug, before it began glowing white, its outline growing rapidly until it settled into a much larger shape. When the glow faded, it had become a mostly-red avian with three-digit hands and feet, the hands featherless but the shins covered by yellow feathers, with a cream-coloured mane on its head and two extensions tapering up and back from the upper half of its beak. "They evolve." The mindscape faded to reveal Zeratul standing before Kerrigan once again "Just as you must… if you survive."

* * *

Exhibit D: The Four Seasons

**A/N: This will actually be in trailer format, using a modified version of the song "Another Way To Die" by Disturbed, a version where the initial slow part is about 3/4 the speed it would normally be played at (i.e. even slower) but the fast part is the same. Bold is for speech, italics mostly for the lyrics.**

_Timeframe: 2001-2005 (WW6), Universe 2_

TV shows a speech by George W. Bush **"…We will take all possible measures to ensure economy recovery from this crash."** Cuts to a split-screen view, one an aerial view of large mansions with yachts, zooming in reveals a sign that says "Gore property" on one of the lawns, and the other showing hobos huddled in a back alley for warmth.

_(Background music) The indulgence of our lives  
Has cast a shadow on our world_

Cuts to the Shepard Sisters standing before a large display screen showing global average temperatures skyrocketing in the late 1990s and continuing into 2001. Both sisters look uncharacteristically grim.

_Our devotion to our appetites…  
Betrayed us all_

Cuts to desertified land with corpses of cattle, killed by overheating and drought.

_Apocalyptic plight…  
More destruction will unfold_

Cuts to forest fires and hurricane relief scenes from America's Gulf Coast, including the looting and rampant crime that the authorities are unable to keep under control.

_Mother Earth will show her darker side…  
And take her toll_

During music, cuts to Bush speaking with the CIA director, then the CIA director speaking with another person. The other person is shown briefing a group of people in civilian clothes but with weapons, pointing out things on diagrams of passenger aircraft. Cuts to four-split screen, the top two show the Twin Towers and the bottom two showing shoot-outs occurring inside aircraft.

_It's just another way to die!_

The top two parts of the screen collapse after showing the crashes, the bottom two expand to show that the soldiers involved are wearing SI Armbands as they duel with the terrorists. It cuts to showing them taking control of the aircraft, the one on the left showing the pilot yelling in panic before cutting to the plane crashing into an abandoned, unreclaimed strip mine while the right side shows the pilot smiling slightly before cutting to the plane, trailing smoke from one engine, wheeling to come in for a landing at Pearson International from the west (airfield identifiable by the runway pattern and CN Tower in the distant background of the shot)

Cuts to a view from near the top of a flagpole with a tattered SI flag on it, riddled with bullet-holes. The view shows American Crusader tanks followed by other mechanized and armoured elements, thundering over ruined defences in the Prairie provinces of Canada, rolling by a large oil extraction facility.

_There can be no other reason why  
You know we should've seen it coming_

Cuts to a Tomahawk cruise missile hitting Carville's office behind his back and exploding, then switching to show American factories pumping out colossal plumes of smoke.

_Consequences we cannot deny…  
Will be revealed in time_

Cuts to the ice of the Arctic cracking and zooms out to a chunk the size of Greenland being shown, just east of Greenland, breaking off from the rest (time-lapse, obviously).

_Glaciers melt as we pollute the sky  
A sign of devastation coming  
We don't need another way to die  
Can we repent in time?_

Cuts to crowds in the Arab world waving banners with translation bubbles "Democracy Now!" "Down With Imperialism!" "Americans Get Out!" and "New, Free Elections NOW!", then cuts to a field of small shoots growing just beyond a sign (with an Up arrow) that says "Permafrost begins here".

_The time bomb is ticking  
And no one is listening_

It cuts back to the Shepards looking at an ominous sharp rise in carbon dioxide concentrations along with a display of the war effort, with the Prairie provinces holding the American to within one hundred and fifty kilometres of the border and the entirety of southern Ontario as a blinking contested zone.

_Our future is failing  
Is there any hope we'll survive?_

_Still, we ravage the world that we love…_

Cuts to American soldiers rigging detonators to oil wells, cuts to GLA forces in Technicals and refitted T-1962s charging toward them just before the oil wells far in the distance are blown up.

_And the billions cry out to be saved!  
_

Cuts to a newspaper where the front page says "Republican scientists refute Global Warming" and "Freakishly long summer weather reaches its 400th day, sales of air conditioners show no sign of slacking off."

_Our endless maniacal appetites…  
Left us with another way to die!  
…It's just another way to die…  
Can we repent in time?_

Cuts to Bush with his fingers sunk into a globe, laughing maniacally.

_Greed and hunger led to our demise,  
A path I can't believe we followed.  
_

Cuts to CEOs meeting to make a new bill that cuts taxes for the rich and puts it on the poor.

_Black agenda's rooted in a lie.  
Will we repent in time?  
_

Shows Dasha Fedorovich setting her jaw as she personally sends off a large Soviet convoy into the Arctic to (shown as travelling by map) make a run for the Mackenzie River Anchorage on Canada's Arctic coast.

_Species fall before our very eyes,  
A world that they cannot survive in—_

Shows a dead kiwi put next to a stuffed passenger pigeon.

—_Left them with another way to die…  
Are we dead inside?_

Shows American flag over a bioweapons facility before showing people in lab coats spraying people chained to the floor in GLA uniforms with blue chemical weapons, the label of the tank says "Codename: Anthrax Beta".

_The time bomb is ticking  
And no one is listening._

Shows plants dying from heat in the Sahel and massive fish kills.

_Our future is failing.  
Is there any hope we'll survive?_

Cuts to a map of global temperature increases from 1900s mean values showing blinking critical red levels across much of the tropics and spreading outward every month.

_Still… we ravage the world that we love._

Shows massive strip mines and clear-cutting with various American corporate logos on the vehicles.

_And the billions cry out to be saved…  
Our endless maniacal appetite…_

Shows French politicians accepting instructions from men in suits and agreeing to something.

_Left us with another way to die…_

Cuts to French Army vehicles burning with corpses littered nearby while GLA-marked vehicles thunder past in the deserts of Saudi Arabia.

_It's just another way to die…_

Cut to orbital bombardment (kinetic) somewhere in the distance with a ruined city and shocked defenders in the foreground, wearing the insignia of the GLA.

Multiple action shots during the guitar solo. Shows, in sepia (flashback style), people at peace and fleets riding at anchor, pans to a car crossing the US-Canadian border and parking a block away from the perimeter of the military part of the harbour. People in suits get out and enter another vehicle, which drives away. Then the shot of the vehicle changes into a night-time shot before everything goes white and a large mushroom cloud is seen growing over Vancouver from outside the city.

Cuts to a (full colour, indicating no longer flashback) Soviet arctic convoy headed eastward. A man in an admiral's uniform keys the communications on the bridge of his cruiser, the voice-over translating to "The _Nimitz_ is closing in. All escorts are to retreat westward as quickly as possible, all merchantmen are to split up and make for the Mackenzie Anchorage at all possible speed. SI Air Support will be available soon." The fleet's escorts are shown to rally and move off toward the watery, setting Arctic sun while the merchantmen separate into small groups or lone ships and stoke their engines to maximum speed, racing eastward into the night.

The shot cuts to a submarine firing a torpedo followed by a merchant ship blowing up and quickly sinking, then it shows the submarine surfacing long enough to send men topside to shoot and puncture the handful of rubber lifeboats before diving again. The next scene shows a pair of American fighters firing missiles and then cutting to another merchantman being holed and eventually capsizing, with several more ships being shown sinking in faded ghost-images. Finally, a few merchant ships are shown riding at anchor in the Mackenzie Anchorage, unloading goods, and Dasha Fedorovich is shown holding a hand to her forehead at her desk as Dostya Mikhailova reports the bad news.

The camera then shows several American Embassy personnel entering a car and cuts to the car disgorging them into a restaurant in China (Beijing).

_Still… we ravage the world that we love._

Shortly thereafter a cargo truck leaves the restaurant's garage and is shown to move onto a side-street near the Forbidden City where a pitched battle between the parade troops and units in GLA colours is being fought.

_And the billions cry out to be saved…  
_

The next shot is of the Forbidden City being highlighted by a nuclear explosion before its walls collapse from the blasts.

_Our endless maniacal appetite…_

Shows Bush laughing as he watches a Chinese newsreel about how units in GLA colours destroyed the Three Gorges Dam

_Left us with another way to die!_

Shows Harmony Shepard banging her fist on the table and standing up to move several pieces on a strategy board, then cuts to an aerial view of GLA formations annihilating another GLA formation.

_It's just another way to die!_

Shows Chinese forces discovering documents in a GLA base and gaping in shock.

_Oh, can we repent in time?_

Shows Bush, panting and red-eyed, pushing the Big Red Button and cackling madly. Cuts to Hannah Shepard **"Get China on the line and tell them to hold back!"** in a softer voice she adds **"Thank you Bush for stopping Global Warming for now."**

_It's just another way to die!_

Shows silo doors opening, cuts to nuclear submarines firing their missiles, then cuts back to missiles firing from ground-side silos.

_Oh, can we repent in time?_

Orbital view of Earth, centered on the western coast of Africa with the terminator going across mid-Libya near equinox time (i.e. north pole is half-exposed). Shows at least twelve flashes in the Continental US, about five in relatively northern Canada. The flashes spread outward from there, some dozen or so in Europe, about a dozen in Central and South America, and numerous blasts in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, plus a few in the Far East.

(NOTE THAT THE VIDEO IS CURRENTLY SILENT!)

The world view fades out to black, and suddenly the sounds of sirens fade in, the video cuts to a woman driving an ambulance in a ruined city, running over a fallen, scorched Saudi Arabia flag and tearing it in half. The sirens fade out with the video, and fades to the Shepards' display of global warming, showing temperatures beginning to decline and the critical areas begin to shrink. **"Microparticles in the stratosphere were just the desperate strategy we needed to stop the runaway greenhouse effect from setting in. The only problems now are to make sure we don't end up with an ozone hole and get greenhouse gases under control before the microparticles precipitate… Or we'll have a Nuclear Summer on our hands despite the albedo shift."** Jane Shepard's voice fades out along with a time-lapse video of the display screen showing ice encroaching on the northern hemisphere and South America.

After fading to black, white text fades into the center of the screen, reading:

For humanity, despite the ashes,  
there is now HOPE.

* * *

**A/N:** In case you didn't figure it out, the seasons in that last trailer were "Arab Spring", "500 Days of Summer", "Fall of Man" and "Nuclear Winter."

**DO NOT ADD TO ALERT! On the other hand, please review and tell me what you think.**


	2. August 1 2013

A/N: Guess there was another chap put up here after all. There were some things that I didn't want to wait 3 whole HS books before revealing to the audience.

**Universe 1 = SupCom/ME/Halo/Starcraft/Babylon 5 universe.**

**Universe 2 = SI Archives universe, includes Harmony Shepard series**

**Disclaimer: all these snapshots can be subject to (some) change when they are actually written. **Nenfaer made a very good point when he said I'm no good with following previews when actually writing, hence detail level is as minimal as possible while still getting the point across. This was meant to be uploaded on August 1, oh well…

* * *

TRAILER SET 2: Unwritten as of August 1, 2013

Exhibit A: Messiah

_Jerusalem, circa 0 BCE, Universe 2_

It seemed that about two thousand years before she was born, people's lives were just so vastly _slower_… Harmony mentally whined to herself as she watched things happen around this Jesus character in what should be his last weeks. According to Ancestor Kane's past self's recorded footage, Jesus had been born a pureblooded wizard and the three Taoists from China had come to see if he was worthy, as prophecy foretold, to lead a campaign to separate wizards and muggles. So far, Harmony was glad that it had happened, since it allowed the might of science to prevail in its mass productive forms.

However, something weird had come up when she heard someone ask Jesus where he came from during his interrogation. Nazareth was "al-Nasirah" in Arabic… but Jesus seemed to be a bit distracted when he replied, saying it without the "al" and with an "ah" tone where "ir" should have gone. This could mean something important… she had to ask Ancestor Kane about this.

Later, when she returned to a terminal and established an uplink, she did, indeed, ask him. "Ancestor, what or where is 'Nazara'?"

Kane looked surprised, but only for a moment "I should have known… you know that technology will not grow if psionics develop too early in a civilization, right? Nazara is the vanguard of a race which wishes to separate psionics from the masses so that our technology may grow to the level they want us to be at when they try to harvest us."

Harmony immediately began thinking of all sorts of doomsday scenarios "Harvest us?"

* * *

Exhibit B: Evil Never Dies

_Former USA, 2013, Universe 2_

The first order of business after Rick Santorum's ballot-stuffing farce of an election into government was the renaming of the USA to the "Christian States of America". The second order of business was abolishing every right and freedom for everybody except already-wealthy white men. The third order of business was the re-introduction of slavery and granting to slave owners absolute power over their slaves, including the power to kill them, for they were sub-human and thus did not count against the Ten Commandments.

The fourth order of business that year was SI closing its borders to what it called the "Ultra-Conservative States of America" and increasing its nuclear arsenal drastically. It also began preparations to touch off another war if need be, so that things might change.

_The Ark, mid 2100s, Universe 2_

"Do you not understand yet, John Shepard? The SPARTAN program is absolutely loyal to the Office of Naval Intelligence. The Shepards will never have dominion over the galaxy, even if we have to kill everything in it to stop them." The deranged lunatic yelled at the still young-looking man. "The UNSC will prevail over the Insurrectionists and you divisive scum!"

The still young-looking man looked bored "In other words, you send your glorified organic combat drones in to kill everyone on revolting colonies as examples to everyone else. Did you really think that would work out that well? You're putting your best specimens, best potential minds, into the meat grinder, effectively neutering them, while your average troops are vastly inferior to ours. We put our best people into research and technology, encouraging them to have as many offspring as possible in the meantime, and it has been this difference between us for decades that has produced the state of Humanity as it is now. Our average soldier far surpasses yours in efficiency, and while they can't beat your Spartans one-on-one, nothing is invincible to weight of numbers and superior firepower. Clearly, you don't understand the first thing about evolution."

"Recombination will provide us again with the raw material to work with, your argument holds no water."

"Ah, but allele frequencies for favourable alleles will decrease under your scheme, while ours boosts them continuously."

"At the end of the day, through prayer and understanding, all good things are possible through God."

"You're one of those types, hmm? I was out of patience with your kind a hundred years ago and even more so now. You don't know anything that we can't tear out of your databases, and I have no fear of valuable information dying with you now that we've finished recording your memories with our machines. Add to that the fact that I have no problem with burning down the UNSC to destroy ONI, well, I won't be seeing you." He pulled back an armoured fist and smashed the man's face in with a punch, tossing the twitching corpse aside as he left the room.

* * *

Exhibit C: You Can Be Samus

_Mid-3872, Universe 1_

Nova had been sent over as basically a representative. She had found the technology of the Coalition fascinating, yes, but what she found even more fascinating was…

"We could well be cousins or even sisters, hmm?" Jedore said, looking the other blonde up and down.

"Looks like it. Your jawline's a bit softer and you have blue eyes instead of green, but yes, we are very similar in appearance." _Not to mention you look healthier and more tanned than I do. Granted, I don't get time off like you probably do, not that I can remember anyways._

"I would hope so, your past incarnations were related after all." Crystal chimed from where her pink crystal was bobbing by.

"Really?" Jedore raised an eyebrow. "So, who were we?"

"Well, one of you was an evil copy of the other, but that's not the point…" She was teasing them, both could tell, but Jedore decided to ask anyhow.

"Any hints?"

"Would one word suffice?"

"Yes, if it's all you'll give us."

"Phazon"

"Like the Phason Laser on a Galactic Colossus?"

"No, spelled with a Z instead of an S."

"Not familiar with that term, I'll have to look it up." Nova brought up her holographic computer, went online and read the Wikipedia article, then clicked around a few times and stared at the other blonde.

Jedore spoke first once they were done with staring at each other for a minute or so "You have the ponytail and bangs, Nova, I like to keep my hair down unless cosplaying as her. You can be Samus's reincarnation, I'll just be the copy."

"Interesting that you wouldn't want to be the hero instead of the villain." Nova commented.

"Samus has a really crappy life and I'm guessing she was lonely until she finally died. Sounds more like you than me. Besides, bangs and ponytail! Not to mention the old Ghost uniform you came over in was like Samus's Zero Suit, leaves zero to the imagination. I'd gladly be the villain if it meant I didn't have to put up with the shit she and you had to deal with."

The argument over whether or not the other was in fact Samus's reincarnation lasted quite a while that night. No catfights ensued, much to the disappointment of some of the crew.

* * *

Exhibit D: Fate Shall Not Weary Me, Nor These Ties Contemn

_Ministry of Magic, June 1996, Universe 2_

"Fate Room." Harmony scowled as she looked around the room none of the others had been able to enter for some reason. "So this room displays which marriages among Psionics on this planet are likely to succeed, huh? Well, let's look up my own data." The room shifted and presented her with a triangle, a small portrait of herself in one corner with two moderately thick gold lines connecting her to both a portrait of Harry and one of Ginny, who had a somewhat thicker gold line between them. "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me." After all, gold threads were for romance, and the thicker, the better. "I am NEVER going to submit to a polygamous relationship! How about Hermione's?"

Three minutes of staring at the massive spider-web centered on Hermione later, Harmony snapped. _NO. Hermione does NOT have almost comparable compatibility with Malfoy as she does with Ron! This room is absolute bullshit, and since Janitors have to clean up bullshit, and I'm a Janitor… let's take out the trash. Freedom of relationships must be brought to the masses, after all, and what better way to start than to eliminate one of the things that the old ways could use to argue for their methods? If it messed up on both me and Hermione so epically, who knows how many more will be doomed to lives without joy by it?_

That day, the Ministry of Magic lost an implement used for centuries to match-make for purebloods trying to marry into other pureblood lines but also trying for at least some compatibility. The room was annihilated by way of somehow controlled "Fiendfyre". Only one person would ever know exactly how and why the Fate Room was demolished, well, two, but that wasn't the point. One would state the other's reasons, as he said to the preserved remains of the other years later, with her ghost watching him speak, it was "For Life or Love or Liberty and memories never to tell".

* * *

Exhibit E: My Self, My Family, My Enemy

_Mid-2070s, Universe 2_

"John, I'm not the same person as I was years ago, and you know it, I've… changed." Lia sighed, looking down at the back of her hand, where her skin was showing a slight blue tint. "Kane said I had enough resistant characteristics and genes to not die from Tiberium, but I'm changing, to something else… I think Kane has seen what I'm becoming before, from that double-take he did when he came to the lab to check on me and the other mutants, but he would not tell us…"

Her lover was looking at her quizzically from across the table "That sounds right to me, why'd you bring this up now? Is something bothering you?"

"I think I want a new name… something less… human I suppose, because I don't feel completely human anymore, not with this." She pointed at her scalp, where all her hair had fallen out fairly recently and a few folds and ridges were taking shape.

"I don't have any other names that specifically come to mind, Lia, but I remember someone saying to me once that a person is defined by their idea of self, their family, and their enemy…"

"Thanks, John." She took out a piece of paper and a pencil, then thought about herself…

_My name is Lia, given to me by John when they needed a name to call the girl they'd just rescued from an ONI facility's vats. My family are the Shepards and the troops that fight with them, all of whom grew up as street rats and then soldiers… Let's just take "Rats" from that, for the sheer survivability they display. My enemy… that's easy, they've been after me for as long as the Shepards have protected me, as long as I can remember. They are my creators, they are ONI._

She stared at the piece of paper for a moment. _Lia, Rats, and ONI… Hmm, feminine names more often than not end in vowel sounds, so that's an easy chop-up, and if I want a two-syllable last name from this I just need to add an apostrophe somewhere… that's a tuh-sound to start, unless someone fails pronunciation._

John had taken their emptied dishes to the mess hall's drop-off area and come back by now, and he peered at her creation. "Looks like it has a nice flow to it. Changing names is a pretty big thing for most people… you might want to think on it overnight, if you're sure, we'll go do the paperwork together at the command center tomorrow. I hope you won't mind me calling out the wrong name occasionally though for the first few days." She rolled her eyes upward at him in an implied facepalm. "I talked myself right into that one didn't I?"

She nodded mutely and rose to leave with him. _Liara T'Soni… that name sounds more me than Lia ever did… whoever told John a person was defined by those three things was very wise indeed._

Unbeknownst to her, since it had been his mother that told him that, wise might not have been the best term to use (half-insane would have been closer), but that wasn't the point…

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, I know, I updated this… despite saying it was a one-time thing. I also put in the name thing that struck me randomly one day.

**DO NOT ADD TO ALERT! On the other hand, please review and tell me what you think.**


End file.
